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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 0117.PDF
JOURNEY EAST . Despite this big concentration of effort in forwarding General Sir Harold Briggs's plan for clearing the militant Communist element out of the Federated Malay States it must be remembered that the Royal Air Force is in the Peninsula primarily for its defence against possible aggression from outside. This is the reason for re-equipping No. 60 Squadron with Vampires. The bandits have no aircraft. Another aspect of the jungle warfare is the removal of casualties by helicopter when difficulties of terrain demand it. The helicopter flight, under F/L. Fry, has three Westland Sikorsky S.51s, one of which must always be at two hours' readiness. In actual fact it can usually get away in 30 minutes. With two pilots on board it still carries sufficient fuel for three hours at 60 knots plus a safety margin of 30 minutes. The standard external stretcher panniers have been discarded and locally made wickerwork baskets substituted: they are much lighter and can be stowed almost entirely inside the cabin. On an operation the spare pilot reclines in the basket. On receipt of a request to remove a casualty, an S.51 is flown up to the nearest A.OP. Auster strip, of which the Army has a number. From here the helicopter pilot is flown in an Auster over the spot from which the evacuation is to be made, to check whether conditions are " possible." Not much is asked for. The jungle trees frequently reach nearly 200ft and evacua- tions have been made where the lateral clearance low down has been as little as 4£ft outside the rotor circumference. The loaded weight of the helicopter, with approximately 40 gallons of fuel and a casualty weighing about 180 lb, allows for a direct vertical climb of about 130ft. At this height trim is altered to give a forward speed of 25 m.p.h. and the final few feet are climbed at a rate of 34Oft/min. I was treated to a dummy run at this and found it was most impressive. It was only too easy to believe that on at least four evacuations of casualties from tiny jungle clearings the helicopters' rotor-blades had fouled the trees. While I was in Singapore there came a request to rescue a woman bandit who had been deserted and found starving in uncharted jungle, ten miles from the Siamese border and 450 miles from the helicopter base at Changi. A start was made at 0600 hr and by a series of hops the area was reached by 1400. Heaped-up cu-nim cloud, however, prevented rescue until the following day, when the lady was safely extracted from the jungle; and the helicopter's pilot has almost certainly earned the nickname Tarzan. Through the notorious Kanching Pass: The rock formation is known as the Tiger's Tooth. (JLeft) A signaller of the RAF. Malay Regiment. (Right) SjL. E. Johnson gives instructions to Gunner Agus ben bahari of the R.A.F. Malay Regiment. G\C. M. H. Kelly, escorted by an armoured car, leaves Rawang for Kuala Lumpur. TheR.A.F. Regiment officers' mess is in the background. Supply-dropping crew : In door. Drivers Simpson, Greenwood and Stone ; centre, LjCpl. Lewis ; bottom, F/L Powell (Nov.), F/L Figg (Pilot) and Sgt. Noble (Sig). (Bottom, right) The scene at the parachute door as a consign- ment leaves the Dakota. The flying-club hangar at Kuala Lumpur. This is one of the oldest flying clubs; it was started many years before the war. Native women labourers at work on the Kuala Lumpur runways—the only r^nh •$ the foreman.
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